Thiruvananthapuram: The day-long file adalat led by Mr A. C. Moideen, Minister for Local Self- Government, at the city corporation on Wednesday witnessed a huge turnout of applicants exposing the apathy of the town planning wing. Around 181 applications relating to occupancy certificate, TC number and building permits came up at the adalat which went on till late in the evening.
The adalat granted building permits to 48 applicants and occupancy certificates to 68. The minister directed the officials to ensure the timely processing of the files cleared at the adalat. Ten files were forwarded to the town planning department for further scrutiny.
The civic body had opened multiple counters under the standing committees for grievance redressal of the residents.
An applicant said, "I constructed a home on the bank of a stream under the housing scheme of the government and got Rs 2 lakh from the government. Then we came to know that the house should be constructed 20 metres from the water body and the civic body refused to give the TC number. I constructed the home in a one-and-a- half-cent land and was unaware of the CRZ rules when I bought the land. I hope my application would be approved at the adalat," he said.
The minister criticised the town planning officials for delaying and denying approvals. He also criticised a builder who came with a couple of elderly occupants of a flat for getting TC numbers. It is learnt that the town planning wing refused to allot TC numbers for the residents of the flats because of various violations in the building. The minister directed the superintendent engineer to look into the complaint and take action within a week.
